Game On
by igotthepower
Summary: After having won her battle against her enemies and reformed her old nest, Daphne d'Hautecour, an old vampire friend of the Winchesters, is bored. She decides to pay an unexpected visit to the brothers, but a lot of things have changed. Sequel to A New Ally! I always love reviews! Rated T for themes and language.


D**aphne's back for some new adventures with the Winchesters! I hope you'll enjoy it :)**

**Of course I don't own any character of the show, Daphne and her friends are my creation though. I'm not an english native speaker so I apologize in advance for any english mistake, you're very welcome to correct me.**

**I really appreciate reviews, so if you like the story, please tell me!**

* * *

So Sam was back.

Apparently sulking, or sleeping, Dean wasn't sure.

He wanted to die, oh yes. But when you're a big brother, you have responsibilities, and one of those is not letting your brother die, even if he wants to. And fuck it. It wasn't even the problem. The problem was Sam was the only thing Dean did right. He raised him right, he took good care of him, sometimes he even thought Sam went to college thanks to him. Because whatever happened, whatever creatures they met, whatever danger they were in, he always insisted on Sam doing his homework.

Do your maths Sammy, i'll take care of that ghost/ghoul/dinner.

So there was no way he would let him go. Even if he was on the verge of closing the gates of Hell. Because he loved him, of course, and also because letting him die would have meant complete failure. And you know, that's what parents always say "you can hate me all you want, someday you'll know I was right". Well someday...

Cas was certainly waiting for them, at least for Sam, in the bunker. It was nice to have him back, that good old Cas. Power-hungry Castiel was definitely gone. Kevin was gone too, and that, as Dean said was on his hand. He actually thought "it's on my soul". He had always seen his soul like a notebook, with one page for the good deeds and one for the bad ones. Lately, he had been living in such a grey area that he had absolutely no idea which page he had written on. Hunting with the King of Hell was normally a bad thing, but it was to get a weapon to kill Abadon. Plus, and this he had a problem to admit, Crowley was...fun. Yes, he was. He had that wicked sense of humor Dean was really fighting against not to burst out laughing sometimes. And yet Crowley was vicious.

Same for Benny, if you think about it. Or for Cain. Or for Garth, poor thing. Recently, the borders between right and wrong were getting blurrier and blurrier.

And Daphne. Of course Daphne. He hadn't heard of her since he went to Purgatory. Sam had told him he broke contact with her when he quit hunting and went playing house with that girl Amelia.

Where could she be now?

* * *

Daphne had been really busy since the last time she saw the Winchesters. After Dean and Castiel's disappearance, she took care of Sam for a few weeks, while reforming her nest. Old vampires were coming from all over the world. Edward had left his beloved England with his progeny, the beautiful Rosamund, and red-haired irish girl he turned in the beginning of the 20th. They were followed by a dozen close friends, who soon began to take an interest to the only human of the house.

Obviously, Sam quickly found out about Daphne's past as the greatest hunter of...hunters. He tried really hard to overlook it, really hard. But he couldn't. He felt betrayed.

- You should have told me, right in the beginning!  
- That was more than a century ago!  
- I know. I also know that for someone like you it's not that long. And they all participated to that, didn't they?  
- Not Rose, she's too young.  
- Young? YOUNG?

Sam was laughing out of despair.

- She was born in 1900! How's that young?  
- Sam...  
- I can't stand the way they all, you all look at me like i'm some kind of curiosity. But now i know why! i'm a human, and a hunter! What do they think, that you took in the poor little hunter out of pity? Trying to redeem yourself?

Daphne suddenly bore a very hard expression.

- I'm not trying to redeem. I paid my dues a long time ago. And I was trying to do what's best for my family. Your brother...  
- Don't talk about my brother!

Sam's eyes became teary.

- Don't talk about Dean, he's gone...  
- I told you...  
- You told me you could try to make him come back...  
- I know. And I will.  
- I don't want to.

Daphne looked at Sam, puzzled.

- Why? Don't you...  
- Yes I want him back. But I want him back happy, healthy, living a normal..."apple-pie life" he'd say. But it's not happening. If you bring him back...  
- Well not me...  
- If your vampire-witch friend brings him back, he will go back to hunting. To drinking. To being miserable.  
- You don't know that...Everyone here's been through terrible things and...  
- YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!

Sam yelled

- Sorry, but you're not...You can go through death, horror, and murder and then have a nice cocktail and laugh about it but we can't.  
- You really think that? Of us? Of me? That we can't feel, we can't have remorse?  
- Daphne I'm sorry, i can't...

He was fighting hard to repress the tears.

- I want out.  
- Out of what?  
- This life. I want out of it. I want to forget what happened, I want to live normally. Can you make me? Make me forget everything?  
- I can, but I won't.  
- Why?  
- Because what you've been through always has a meaning. Even if you don't get it now, someday you will. But if you want to go I won't stop you.

The next morning he was gone. He drove aimlessly for days, stopping only to sleep, barely eating. Until he ran off that dog and met Amelia.

Daphne hoped for a few days that he would call. He didn't. As Vlad said, he was not her child. He and his brother had awaken something in her, her humanity, her human memories. She felt thankful for that. But now was the time to move on, and most of all, to finish destroying the council.

She broke her phone. She had always hated phones, and cellphones were the worst. This one had only one use. With Sam gone, she could go back to seals and letters. He was right about one thing though, vampires can decide to stop suffering. But not because they have a special ability, because of old age.

* * *

- There wasn't so much work to do you know, with the blood poisoning they were all really weakened. So we went and killed a few, the other bowed to our authority...We sent back the mutants to their damped back-alleys and dark basements. We made peace with the mutant council, they didn't have a lot of options anyway. My son was ready to massacre them all and he has a lot of friends! We have a new council, with my dear friend Vlad as a president. So everything's back to order. I mean on the vampire side, on yours it looks like utter anarchy.  
- Indeed, answered Castiel. The angels fell.

Castiel was reading when he heard the bunker's door opening. He thought it was the brothers, but when he saw a long black dress and red stilettos he thought it was certainly someone else, unless the boys had a complete change of style. He recognized Daphne from the Leviathans' case, and greated her, though he was a little surprised. How did she find the bunker?

- I have a vampire-witch friend.  
- Vampire-witch?  
- Oh yes. Her name is Thalia. Apparently when she was turned it made a huge scandal. Her coven and her nest fought for years over it. But it's good for us, she's extremely powerful. So how are you my dear? You look well, compared to the last time I saw you. And I really can't believe you both made it out of...Purgatory? That, my friend is amazing.  
- I regained my sanity, indeed. And then I was tricked by Metatron. He stole my grace. I became human. I worked in a mini-market. And PB&J tastes like heaven. And then i killed an angel, stole HIS grace, and now i'm back. Game on.  
- And you're sure you regained your mental health?  
- Yes of course, why? said Castiel with a very serious look.  
- No reason darling, by the way should I send your regards to Margaret? She was really fond of you, you know?  
- Margaret...the ghost?  
- Yes, she's still with us, watching over the house. She's really happy now it's full. Well she does try sometimes to kill someone but not as much as she used to.

They continued chatting until the boys arrived. When he heard a feminine voice, Dean rushed down the stairs. Who could be talking with Cas?

- D...Daphne?  
- Dean! So Castiel said the truth, you are alive!

She looked genuinely glad to see him, so glad that she rushed to him so quick she disappeared for a moment. She was wearing a long black dress, with lace. Her long blond curls were reaching her lower back, almost sparkling in the light of the lamps. She was wearing red lipstick, red nail polish, and red shoes. He hated himself to be stunned by her appearance. She looked like a 1940's movie star. A centuries old, slightly nuts and deadly 1940's movie star.

- Yes, yes I am...but how...did you find us?  
- She has a vampire-witch friend, said Cas.  
- I have! And I'm happy to see you both, it's been days!  
- Almost 2 years actually, said Sam.  
- And Sam! You're here too? You've never contacted me since you left my house!

Sam looked suddenly embarassed.

- Since he what? said Dean  
- Apparently we have some catching up to do right? said Daphne, sitting down. Why don't we all take a nice drink, and you all tell me what happened to you? Don't bother bringing me anything though...

And with a very elegant move she started pouring blood in a glass, from a golden flask with DH engraved on it.

_She hasn't changed a bit, Dean thinks, a little smirk on his face_

* * *

- So what is this place exactly? It looks like an old James Bond secret base...  
- It used to be the Men of Letters bunker actually, said Dean. They were...  
- Oh I know who they are, I just thought they were all dead.  
- Daphne...How did you get in?  
- It was open.  
- What?  
- I'm telling you, the door was open so i got in.  
- Dammit Cas! Never leave the door open!  
- But Dean my powers are back and...I needed...some fresh air.  
- It still doesn't explain why you could get in.  
- Why's that?  
- Because the bunker is safe against everything that's evil.

Daphne coughed a little.

- Evil? You think I'm evil?  
- Not you in particular but uh...your...your kind.  
- My kind was fine with the Men of Letters you know. We had signed a pact. It must be here somewhere if this is where they kept their documents.

Sam and Dean looked at each other, and then at Daphne, who was quietly sipping blood.

- You had a deal with the Men of Letters? said Sam. With what you'd done? They signed a pact with you knowing what you did to hunters?

Daphne put her glass back on the table, and looked at Dean. Obviously, Sam didn't tell him what he knew.

- What do you mean Sammy? What did she do?  
- She...she...wait a minute, replied Sam, running to the library.

Five awkward minutes later, he came back with an old book, intitled "Red Laurel".

- Oh damn that book, i'm sure it is full of lies! said Daphne.  
- It isn't. It's exactly what your friends told me about what you used to do.  
- Sammy could you please...- Read the first page Dean, read it, out loud, so everybody can hear!

"Red Laurel is the most dangerous vampire who ever walked this earth."

- That's exaggerated.

"She killed thousands of vampire hunters..."

- 124! I'm not a bloody nuclear bomb!

"...until she disappeared in 1843, in unknown circumstances"

- Daphne, what does it mean? said Dean. Is that really you they talk about in that book?  
- Yes. It is. Now, I know how it looks...  
- You were a...hunters' hunter?  
- After my maker's death, yes. I killed all the vampires hunters I could for 20 years. I was madly hurt after Van Buren killed my maker.  
- Madly that's the word, said Sam.  
- Sam come on...  
- So I hunted them down until I met Philip. I stopped after that. And then, I came to the Men of Letters to make a deal. No attacks from us, ever, in exchange for their silence regarding the existence of our kind. They were just...archivists. They had never done anything to us. We couldn't trick them into believing we were legendary.  
- Why did they sign that?  
- Because they saw what I did to vampire hunters. They wanted to survive. Pity for them they refused the protection I offered in exchange for their loyalty. They said they would keep silent about us, but they didn't want us to be allies. A shame. They were killed by demons, all of them.  
- We know. Apparently our grand father was one of them, said Dean. They were killed by a demon named Abbadon.  
- Oh really? I'm sorry. Anyway i thought Sam told you about me.

Sam suddenly looked embarrassed.

- How come you never told me? When did you learn that?  
- Uh...Dean...  
- After you and Castiel disappeared he lived a few weeks with us.  
- What? That's what you meant by "after he left my house"?  
- It's really fine Dean. At that time I was just getting my nest back together, he needed time to think...Anyway it got a little difficult when my friend Lysander began to have an interest with him.  
- What kind of interest?  
- Well, he's greek. The ancient type.

Sam looked weirdly relieved.

- I don't get it.  
- Dean I think she means that guy became infatuated with your brother, said Castiel.  
- Infa...? OH GOD!  
- Yes. So Lysander was really considering making your brother his progeny, and he told him everything about the story of our nest. I was quite furious. But you should have seen his face when he said your brother reminded him of a young Hector.  
- Who?  
- I think she means Hector of Troy.  
- Shut up Cas.  
- So of course your brother refused to be turned. He was also mad at me. And he was gone a few days later.

Dean rose from his chair, frowning. The silence was heavy. After a few awkward seconds he said

- Well thanks for taking care of him.  
- You're welcome.  
- Dean? What about her past, I mean... said Sam, shocked.  
- The past is the past...You helped us back then,well you tried. You were hurt, you seeked revenge, I can understand what you could do for family, he said, looking at Sam. Tough choices. Mistakes... But don't hide things from us again, if you want us to be friends.

Daphne rushed to Dean, fast as usual, planting her green eyes in his.

- You...have...changed.  
- Yeah...maybe...  
- In a good way. I could almost consider...  
- What? Consider what?  
- Never mind, she said with a teeth-revealing smile.

Castiel walked close to Sam, who seemed to be very confused by his brother's behavior.

- That really seems to bother you.  
- It does. It's like I dont know who he is anymore. Where he stands, Sam said, looking at his brother chit-chatting with Daphne.  
- He's still Dean, you know.  
- No, he's not. Dean used to be...I don't know, righteous? I could always turn to him for telling me...right and wrong. Now he just...

He felt a cold breeze in his hair. Daphne. She took his arm and pulled him close to her, whispering

- He's just getting the world isn't binary, Sam. And may I remind you that before you learnt about my past, you were the one who trusted me the most?  
- I did but...  
- Did I ever wronged you?  
- No but...  
- But what dear? But what? I just made up a story to cover the fact you didn't want me to bring your brother back. Everything you learnt, you learnt it from Vlad, meaning from me. I thought better of you, you know. I really did. And don't give me the "i-feel-so-confused" look.  
- But you are always so confusing! God! And why are you even back?

Daphne chuckled.

- I was bored. I thought there might be some adventure going on here. Seems I'm not mistaken. So darlings, care to welcome your old ally?


End file.
